A litter tray or litter box having litter therein is typically used by a pet cat, rabbit or other small pet animal for indoor collection of feces and urine. The litter material commonly used includes granulated moisture absorbing clay that includes aluminum silicates and/or other minerals. Other materials are also used as litter, such as wood chips, pelletized paper, pelletized grain, pelletized corncobs, and pelletized wheat straw grasses.
More specifically, the litter can be a “non-clumping” litter comprising sand or a mixture of zeolite, diatomite, and sepiolite. However, when removing animal waste from the litter box in which non-clumping litter was used, the entire contents of the litter box must be emptied. Alternatively, “clumping” litter may be used rather than non-clumping litter. Clumping litter, which can include bentonite clay (absorbent aluminum phyllosilicate) or diatomaceous earth, forms a relatively solid mass when wet. The solid mass can then be scooped from the litter box without emptying the entire contents of the litter box.
Some animals, such as cats, have a natural instinct to bury their waste in loose soil when the animal is in the wild. A litter box relies on this natural instinct to accomplish its function of collecting the animal's waste. In this regard, the litter box is filled with about one inch (2.5 centimeters) of the litter for simulating loose soil, so that the animal will instinctively bury its waste in the litter. However, it has been observed that the granulated or pelletized litter will often, at least temporarily, adhere to the animal's paws regardless of the composition of the litter, and regardless of whether the litter is non-clumping litter or clumping litter. When this occurs, the animal will then “track” the litter onto nearby surfaces as the animal exits the litter box.
In addition, about 80% of litter purchased by pet owners is the previously mentioned clumping litter rather than the non-clumping litter. However, clumping litter has a smaller average grain size and is lighter than non-clumping litter. In this regard, the litter grain size of the clumping litter may vary between approximately 0.019685 inch (0.5 millimeter) and approximately 0.059055 inch (1.5 millimeter). Therefore, there is a greater likelihood that the clumping litter typically used will be tracked, expelled, or otherwise scattered more easily from the litter box as the animal buries its waste in the litter.
Also, the litter tracked, expelled, and otherwise scattered by the animal onto nearby surfaces may be inadvertently tracked even further away from the vicinity of the litter box by humans walking or moving through an area near the litter box.
The litter escaping the litter box due to the cat's paws tracking, expelling, or otherwise scattering the litter outside the litter box, and due to people walking near the litter box, results in time spent subsequently vacuuming, sweeping, and/or even mopping an area where the litter has escaped from the litter box. In addition, litter escaping the litter box might stain furniture fabric, carpeting, and other items located near the litter box. Moreover, the litter escaping the litter box and transferred to nearby surfaces creates an unsanitary indoor environment. This is so because the tracked and scattered litter may be contaminated with bacteria (e.g., escherichia coli) and protozoa (e.g., toxoplasma gondil) that can cause or exacerbate health issues in some people. Therefore, for all the forgoing reasons, it is desirable to prevent inadvertent escape of litter from the litter box.
Prior art approaches have been taken to prevent inadvertent escape of litter from a litter box. For example, an apparatus for preventing litter from being scattered upon the floor outside of a litter box and beyond, whether strewn by a cat during or after using the litter box, or by the owner when cleaning the litter box is disclosed in the prior art. In this regard, an enclosure is provided having a front side, a left side, a right side and a base. The device is designed to encourage the cat to step out of the litter box and into a tracked litter receptacle for collecting tracked litter. The device is further designed to corral not only litter tracked onto the bottom of the cat's paws, but litter tossed, flipped and spilled out of the litter box. However, use of this device appears to create at least two separate areas requiring cleanup. The two separate areas being the initial site where the litter is contained, and an additional site where the litter has been subsequently corralled. Cleaning two separate areas of tracked litter rather than a single area is time consuming and, hence, inconvenient.
Another known approach provides a sanitary cat path for use with a litter box, or a cat door, the sanitary cat path including an elevated apertured walkway operating to remove the litter or debris from the paws of the cat so that the litter or debris will not be deposited on the floor, and/or tracked about the home and, preferably, providing a tray for capturing the litter or debris and easily disposing of it. However, use of this device also creates at least two separate areas requiring cleanup, the two separate areas being the initial site where the litter is located, and the additional site where the tracked litter is subsequently captured by the tray. Cleaning two separate areas of tracked litter rather than a single area is time consuming and, consequently, inconvenient. In addition, this reference appears merely to disclose a tray useable with a conventional litter box, rather than a fully configured litter box construction that includes a tray.
Yet another known approach provides a louvered ramp that serves as a cat's paw-cleaning entry and exit ramp ascending to, and descending from, a cat litter box. However, this reference appears merely to disclose a louvered ramp useable with a conventional litter box.